Someone dug up the baby - cemetery vandalized

[Dakota Valkyrie]

CANTON, Wis. ― Days before Halloween, police in Wisconsin are investigating a real-life ghoulish crime. Someone dug up a baby buried in a cemetery for more than 80 years.

Someone dug a hole, measured about 20 inches wide, 54 inches long and 48 inches deep, where "Baby Locke" was laid to rest in 1925 at the Pioneers Rest Cemetery near Canton, Wis. They tore the wooden casket apart and took the body.

"We all have questions on why this happened and hopefully it turns out to be some sort of a prank or somebody who thinks this is funny," Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said.

He planned to consult with the state crime lab on what investigators should look for at the site. They already had dug deeper than the parts of the casket and found no human remains, he said.

The size and rectangular shape of the hole indicates the grave was the target of whoever dug it, he said.

"We believe they probably gained access to the casket area," he said. "If there was remains they did remove them."

The cemetery is still maintained and used but there's some history that goes well beyond the bodies buried in the ground.

Jeff Granum came to check his own family's stones when he heard what had happened. He said this has been a place for parties after stories of ghost spottings went online. Just a few years ago some tombstones were toppled.

"It's hard to believe they keep coming down here. And the idea is that they think it's haunted and it's not," Granum said.

Fitzgerald said his department will now step up security at this "out of the way" cemetery after a very personal crime unearthed some very strong feelings.

"They should dig the next graves here for next 10 years if they like it here so much," Granum said.

Some family members of the baby were told about what happened. Investigators recovered some items at the scene from the people who dug up the grave but they won't say what those items were.

http://wcco.com/crime/remains.stolen....2.850769.html
Report of haunting on Strange USA: http://www.strangeusa.com/ViewLocati...cationid=10792
Unexplained Research: http://www.unexplainedresearch.com/f...graveyard.html

Maybe they wanted to make a bong: http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=3960

What is it with Wisconsin and digging up dead folks?? http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=6185

[crickett]

This gross disrespect of both this innocent child and the family is unwarranted. It is in no way funny nor is it justified by this being Halloween. I hope that the utterly disgusting pigs who did this get caught and not left off easily.

[Sister Iroz]

How bizarre, how bizarre, how bizarre!

[Silvahalo]

Likely the baby originally died from disease. Whatever the case this poor babies remains deserved to respected. Gosh, I hope this wasn't some bizarre black-magic shit...someone needing dead remains from an infant....damn, I see way too many horror movies.


I hope you remain at peace little one.

[Morticia]

People will do the sickest things.

Is it because Halloween? I don't get it.

[carol13]

Someone once stole my grandmother's goat, cut off its ear, and brought it back in the night a few days later. It was about two weeks before Halloween. The next door neighbors didn't get their goat back, I guess we got the better(?) goat nappers at our place.

[ARedRouletteKiss]

I know to lock up black cats around halloween (I own 3), but goats? And skeleton babies? Maybe people should just let their black cats run free, people have resorted to weird things these days. This is a creepy story.

[blue_zombie]

Skeletons, ghosts, goats, and cats OH MY! How freakin' weird!!!!!!

[Owd Scrat]

I grew up in Wisconsin (La Crosse) and yes we do have a "thing" for digging about in cemeteries! Well at least I do....

[impqueen]

I front paged this one - thanks, DV!

[orangeduckfuzz]

Mystery continues to surround the remains taken from a grave in rural western Wisconsin earlier this week.

Before the baby's gravesite in the Pioneer Rest Cemetery was filled in Tuesday, Barron County investigators recovered a small bone, nameplate, metal handles and a corner of the 83-year-old wooden casket.

A forensic pathologist is examining the bone in hopes of estimating how much of the body remained before Baby Locke was dug up after dark some time in the past week.

The grave robbery has appalled neighbors of the cemetery, a few miles north of the unincorporated village of Canton, Wis.

Baby Locke was born and died in 1925 and was buried in the family plot at Pioneer Rest, a football-field-size community cemetery surrounded by large white pines.

Despite its isolation, Pioneer Rest Cemetery draws visitors for its reputed ghostly past. It is listed on several Web sites naming allegedly haunted places.

The few rural residents who live near the cemetery said the ghost stories are myths. The rumors are unfounded, officials said.

Vandals have damaged the cemetery's tombstones in the past.

Officials were investigating a report of a damaged grave Tuesday when they found someone had dug 48 inches into the sandy soil and removed Baby Locke's remains. Officials suspect at least two people were involved.

"This is pretty personal. It goes beyond a Halloween prank — if that's what it was," said neighbor Jeff Granum. His father and brother
are buried in Pioneer Rest.

Officials had hoped someone would call the Barron County sheriff's office with a tip that would lead to a suspect or suspects and recovery of the grave's remains. But no luck so far, officials said.

"This is more than a stolen car, stolen gun or drugs," sheriff's Detective Dave Kuffel said Wednesday.

"From a personal, human aspect, this is very unsettling. I hope we get a tip, or the remains are left for us to get," he said. "I want to put this (baby) back to rest."

Kevin Harter can be reached at 651-228-2149.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_10850776